Free Republic

The park ranger spotted him kneeling in the bushes by the 112-year-old Confederate statue, explosives in hand. Was he trying to harm the statue? she asked. Yes, he said. He didn't like the guy. The late-night confrontation at the statue of Confederate Lt. Dick Dowling — detailed in court records by a federal agent — led to the arrest of 25-year-old Andrew Schneck, setting off a two-day operation by law enforcement that forced the evacuation of the tony Rice University neighborhood where Schneck lives with his parents. Bomb squad experts detonated a cache of high-powered explosives found on the property...

A statue representing service members in Veterans Plaza at Teague Park in Longview has been destroyed. Air Force veteran David Applewhite of Gladewater, who is involved with the Veterans Recognition Foundation, posted a photo on his Facebook page of the overturned statue. FOLLOW UP: Group pays to replace vandalized Longview veterans plaza statue "One of the statues guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier monument has been pushed over by vandals at the Veterans Plaza in Longview," Applewhite wrote. "Was not young children who did this." Officials with the group who oversees the plaza later said the destroyed statue is...